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EXCLUSIVE

By Sean Moriarty

Spa GAA club is in the process of placing its huge video archive online - some of which dates back 40 years - and fans will be able to access it via YouTube.

Club PRO Deirdre O’Sullivan Darcy has set up a channel on the popular site for the club, and over the next couple of weeks will upload video footage that features club games and sports events that the club was involved in over many years.

“During the last lockdown we uploaded loads of old photos to our website and this proved to very popular,” she told the Killarney Advertiser. “This is the next step in that idea.”

Most of the footage is either owned or in the possession of the Cronin family.
Club member Sean Cronin is a regular sight on the side-lines as he records various club matches. His son Shane, who is also a club member, was a video enthusiast during his teenage years and has captured several historical occasions on the same camera his father now uses.

The Cronin family inherited much older footage from Sean’s late uncle Archie Cronin and the family is currently sifting through boxes of material ahead of transferring the footage from the old reel style format into a digital format.

One famous match, the 1995 Kerry Intermediate Football final will be uploaded in the coming days.

The footage features commentary from Gary O’Sullivan and it is believed to be one of the first matches he relayed to viewers. O’Sullivan went on to a very successful and popular sports broadcasting career with Radio Kerry.

“I moved house about 12 years ago. There are boxes of tapes belonging to my late uncle and it is a case of finding the box and the reels,” Sean Cronin told the Killarney Advertiser. “We have footage somewhere of a 1980s sports day at Spa, long before the clubhouse was ever built. It will bring back huge memories for people.”

Recently uploaded footage shows the 2008 East Kerry Under 12 Division 1 final between Spa and Dr Crokes.

​​​​​​​Current County star Gavin White is shown playing for Dr Crokes while a young girl is seen playing for Spa at a time when mixed teams were allowed at underage level.
That match can be viewed via YouTube by searching Spa GAA Club Killarney: 2008 East Kerry U12 Div1 Final Spa v Dr Crokes.